I dub thee, Brasperries

Since Big Bro was a toddler we have loved picking wild black raspberries every summer from bushes found in our yard. Typically we didn't find that many berries so we would just eat them as we found them. 

Lil Sis also loves the taste of wild black raspberries so the tradition has continued. This year, we discovered two large black raspberry bushes that had gone unnoticed. Or maybe they just were never there before this year.

We went out one cool and rainy July night and started picking berries and putting them into our jar. The kids likened the sound of dropping their berries into the empty jar to Little Sal in Blueberries for Sal "kerplink, kerplank, kerplunk."

We picked and picked to get 4 cups worth thinking that would be enough for jam.

After looking at the actual recipe turns out 10 cups were required. We picked another 3 cups a couple days later. My good friend contributed a few more cups gathered from her own yard and we were able to make a delicious batch of blackberry, I mean black raspberry jam. After all of us making that linguistic mistake countless times I dubbed them officially "Brasperries."

The jam was amazing. A welcomed change from our usual strawberry jam.

First cucumbers ever

Turns out that some of the plants that I thought were zucchini are actually cucumbers! This is big because I have NEVER grown a successful cucumber plant. I guess the mounding that the guy at (the now defunct) Grand Isle Nursery suggested worked!

I prefer European cucumbers for eating, so the kids and I turned these beauties into quick and easy refrigerator pickles. 

Boil vinegar, sugar, salt, pickle spices (a mix from Healthy Living Market), cool, pour over cucumber slices, and leave in the fridge undisturbed for 3 days. They are delicious (but strong). Big Bro still likes them, he loves pickles. Another fun first for our garden. 

Boom & Bust

Peach trees bloom every other year unless you take the time to thin the flowers so the tree doesn't experience boom and bust years. This is what I learned from the people at Hackett's Orchard, but they were talking about apples.

This year I should have thinned the blossoms to prevent the boom/bust cycle. I failed to do it though. I was only thinking about crop yields, not the tree itself. I was ok with having a year off from peaches. 

This year's crop was bigger than it was 2 years ago. The branches were so heavy with fruit that they bowed toward the ground and the whole tree (both of them) began to lean. My father-in-law tied them up with stakes. I held my breath that the peaches would ripen before an overburdened branch broke. The idea of building a crutch to help hold up particular branches came to mind, but never materialized.

On Monday the kids and I picked some peaches. After at least a week of checking them each day, many of them were ready. We filled our basket, then went inside to get a bigger container. When we returned one of the branches was snapped. Was I just unobservant the first time or had the branch snapped during those few minutes away? Sadness.

So the kids and I went to work and made up songs like "we've got to pick, pick, pick the peaches...to protect our trees!" And repeat.

We got a huge haul, an entire red wagon full. There are a few chicken eggs hanging out on top of the small collander too.

I read that most trees can heal themselves, and sealants cause more harm than good. There was nothing to do for the tree but saw off the broken branch and hope the tree survives.

Bottom line: don't be lazy or greedy, thin those peach blossoms! 

Canned Patience & Practice

August brings the bounty of the harvest. The pears are starting to come in, the peaches too. And this year was an especially bumper crop of both. 

Now comes the task of processing so we might actually enjoy all the bounty. With the pears I have time because even though many have been picked, they will still take weeks before they spoil.

The peaches, on the other hand, do not ripen on your counter, they must ripen on the branch to achieve the best flavor. No surprise then, you have to consume or preserve them quickly. 

I'm still pretty new to canning and preserving so the night before I started canning I read up on the process for canning peach halves in water or ultra lift syrup. I was feeling pretty good about how the next morning would go. 

In the morning the kids both washed the jars, Big Bro rinsed them, filled them with fresh water and put them in the canner. 

I started halving and peeling peaches. 

The kids were done washing and still eager to help so I tried to have them twist apart the peach halves. It was too difficult, but thankfully they went to the living room to entertain themselves. They're getting better at that.I placed the cut peaches in a water and lemon juice mixture to prevent browning. I filled the bowl and maxed out all the space. My jars were warming in the canner, the ultra light syrup was cooking.

Then I looked at the lids. Crap. The only lids I had were wide mouth and all the jars that were so nicely warmed in the water were small mouth, save one. Despite my prep I still goofed.

I found some wide mouth jars and got them cleaned and warmed. The next problem was the jar filling. Peach halves have to be arranged pit cavity side down in the jar. Hot packed peaches are slippery and it took some effort to get them all the right way. Then there's the filling the jar with syrup to the right level, getting the air bubbles out, wiping the top, closing it up, then putting it in the canner. Somehow I tipped a jar while trying to get the bubbles out. Hot peaches and syrup splattered on the floor. Lil Sis came in and laughed, "Mommy, you're standing in peaches!"

I pressed on, but by now I had been canning for over an hour and the kids were starting to fight over who had which activity book, which color crayon, and even whether the illustrated sea urchins and other creatures were boys or girls. "Make at least one a boy??? Oh please!" Begged Big Bro. "Noo!" Shouted Lil Sis.

My counter top still overflowed with peaches and there are hundreds more in the basement. My canning effort up to now only yielded 2 quarts and one pint of halved peaches. One of the jars hadn't even sealed so we would have to eat it in the next week or so. Seriously peaches, I love your sweet taste, but this was the pits.

I ended up turning my second batch of cut peaches into purée and froze it into popsicles.

Maybe this weekend I will try again.

The summer of zucchini

This year's garden was wholly my effort, with some planting help from the kids. It was a quick effort because doing things with two kids running around and making demands isn't easy.

In some ways it's one of our best gardens. I used Green Mountain Coffee burlap coffee bean bags as mulch (you can get them for free at their factories). Therefore, for once, the weeds are actually under control.

Then again, not all of the space we typically use was planted. Also many of our seeds were old eg. the sweet peas didn't do much of anything. We picked maybe two dozen of them to eat as impromptu snacks.

This year I planted cilantro which grew quickly from seed and tastes delicious. It's a nice addition. There's basil too, also from seed, but it's getting shaded out by the tomatoes, whoops.

We've had a decent crop of tomatoes so far. Here is the latest collection sitting on my window to fully ripen.

I have shied away from planting zucchini in the past because I know what a monster it is. Zucchinis typically take over gardens and your neighbor then tries to pawn two foot-long giant vegetables off on you.

From FB:

This year I went for it anyway. I planted a few seeds and I think I have three plants now. It's hard to tell because they are so sprawling and prickly! I don't like touching them.

The zucchinis themselves are sneaky little buggers, hiding among the prickly stalks disguising their full-size.

Do you see the two zucchinis in this picture?

So when you have prolific zucchini plants what do you do? Zucchini bread of course!

I have documented all my garden firsts on this blog so here is the latest. This morning I made zucchini muffins. The kids were playing happily and independently for most of the time while I grated the zucchini and mixed the dry and wet ingredients separately...

...then mixed it all together.

The kids joined me to butter the muffin tins…

...and of course for the eating part. They are delicious!

Have you made fresh zucchini muffins or bread? Here is the recipe we used: 

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/zucchini_muffins/

A few days later we tried Zuccini brownies too: http://www.texanerin.com/2013/08/chocolate-zucchini-brownies.html#_a5y_p=3859621

"Guard"ening

Oh it's a cheesy title, but sometimes being cheesy is oddly satisfying. Here's the story, you'll understand the title by the end:

It was past Memorial Day and I knew we had to plant our garden quick if we wanted time to grow much of anything. The kids and I headed to our local plant nursery only to find that they were not growing any seedlings this year because they are closing (due to poor sales the last few years after 24 years in business total). A sad state of affairs for our little town to lose a valuable service. So we after buying some seed packets and shovels we reluctantly drove the 20 minutes or so to the next closest, locally-owned, garden center. We bought Early Girl tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, and kid-sized garden gloves.

I had put up the chicken fence already and dug the thick weed cover out thanks in part to Grandma playing with the kids so I could spend the necessary time with a shovel and rake.

I decided to mound the rows this year since the owner of the defunct nursery said it might help the cucumbers grow (I've never had any luck with cucumbers). Big Bro patted the mounds down as I piled them higher. Getting him to pull out stray weeds we turned over was like pulling teeth though. Eventually we got Lil Sis away from the kiddie pool and into the garden to help too. She has an aversion to getting dirt in her shoes which is why you typically see her in socks and sneakers. But in the garden even socks and sneakers couldn't keep the dirt out and she (we) grew frustrated with having to clean her shoes out every 2 minutes.

I convinced her she should go barefoot. Her feet would get dirty but we would wash them at the end. At least this way the soil wouldn't be trapped between shoes and socks. She went for it.

It was her first year planting and she did great. She loved dropping the seeds in the holes then pinching them closed. Big Bro loved it too. We/I sang "The Garden Song" repeatedly. It was extra special this year because Lil Sis has been making big strides with her physical abilities this spring/summer: riding a pedal bike (with training wheels), climbing trees, hopping on one foot. Things that she has been more reluctant to try than her brother ever was.

We planted black beans, cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, tomatoes, cilantro, basil, snap peas and radishes.

So why "guard"ening? Because all the while that we were having this nice time I was on guard knowing that 2 prisoners recently escaped from a maximum security prison across the lake. Just the day before authorities had refocused their manhunt in Vermont. Yes, logically the prisoners were probably not going to hang out in a town right near the NY ferry crossing. Nor would they lurk around a population center (small as my town is). But whenever I ran to the barn to grab more tomato trellises or look for the next seed packet in the basement, I wondered if I should be more vigilant about locking doors to the house and not letting the kids out of my sight for even a minute. It was an odd contrast of sweetness planting with my kiddos, and creepiness from the outside world seeping in ever so slightly. I hesitate including this part because this is a journal of sorts so why would I want to remember this? But it is what it is. 

Maple Love

This was the first year that our maple operation was 100% my own. After a bit of trouble to get a working drill, the kids and I tapped three trees on March 10th, which is about one month later than what  was typical for us due to freezing temperatures (ie: the coldest February in 80 years).

For some reason two of the three trees were having yellow sap from the get-go. In years past these particular trees were usually our super-producers. This made no sense to me, since it was no where near warm enough for them to start blooming (the usual reason for yellow sap) but after a few days of the same – just some small yellow drips – I pulled the taps out. Now I just had one tree left.

On March 17th I boiled my first batch of sap on the kitchen stove.

In total I had 5 small batches of sap to boil during my short five-week sugaring season. The batches are shown (from left to right) first to last.

Batch 1 was beautifully clear sap but I made a rookie mistake and boiled it for too long making it more like candy. It's already starting to crystallize.

Batch 2 was yellow sap. I'm not sure why it happened maybe because it froze and then thawed while in the bucket thanks to temperature swings. I was almost going to throw it out but my husband suggested I try it. He even tasted it and said he liked it so here it is, super dark. At least I didn't over boil it so it's more like syrup instead of honey.

Batch 3 was a mix of some slightly yellow sap with a second run of clearer sap. It turned into a medium syrup but it was a very small amount.

Batch 4 was crystal-clear sap and boiled to a good consistency, however there is a ton of sandy sediment at the bottom that I should strain out.

Batch 5, the last one, was also beautifully clear sap but the smallest amount yet. I boiled it to a good consistency and the color is amazingly light, just like Batch 4, but batch five has less sediment at the bottom. Perhaps that is only because it hasn't been sitting in the fridge as long.

I pulled the tree tap yesterday because even the nighttime temperatures were supposed to be above freezing. That is not sugaring weather. 

 Yet the next morning I, along with the rest of Northwestern VT, woke up to this:

Maybe sugaring season is not quite over, but I am over sugaring season.

Catch Up Cider

I have been a total slacker on writing this blog. When I told my blogger friend Tenor Dad that I was taking the summer off from writing his reply to me was something to the effect of "I have never missed a day because I know I wouldn't start up again." I'll go back I thought.

Yet here we are at the end of October. And since school started up again I have written a measly 10 entries. My last one was a month ago. It's time to kick it back into gear. 

Last year around this time I was writing about the bounty from my garden and adventures in canning/food preservation.

Last year I canned a whole bunch of stuff. This year the haul has been smaller for canning. Our tomatoes went to making fresh salsa and one batch of delicious tomato sauce that was quickly consumed. Another reason for what feels like a canning deficit was our fruit trees didn't produce as abundantly this year. We still got a fair amount of pear slices which I did can, and pear sauce which I froze out of laziness (it was much less than last year). 

Our apple trees did absolutely nothing this year. This was extra disappointing because last year we had an amazing apple crop that we turned into cider at a friend's party. We even recently bought our own cider press and had dreams of making tons of free cider.

It was not to be. At least not for free.

I bought 2 1/2 bushels of apples from our local orchard. $20 worth. The orchard assured me that most home growers got nothing this year. After such an abundant crop last year, the trees needed a rest. The commercial orchards still did well because they hand thin all the apple blossoms so that the trees don't go through such boom and bust cycles. What a job! Can you imagine hand thinning apple blossoms from hundreds of trees?

Still, I purchased the apples and the kids eagerly watched me set up to do some cider pressing.

"Can I start now???" asked Big Bro impatiently. 

"Not yet," I replied, "I still have lots of setting up to do!" Patience is not a four-year-olds strong suit.

Big Bro threw apples in the hopper as I cranked the wheel to chop them up. 

I got my husband involved to make it go faster. 

Once the bucket was full with chopped up apple pieces we squeezed them and the cider flowed out of the press. I invited Nini to come see the process and join us in tasting some delicious fresh homemade cider. Then Grandpa wandered over from next-door and wanted to check it out. He started cranking the wheel as I fed it apples, and my husband disappeared. 

"I think I've been Huck Finned!" Grandpa exclaimed referencing the old Mark Twain story.

Really my husband was just on the upper porch with Lil Sis who was sad that she is still too little to throw apples into the hopper, and therefore fed up with being outside. Next year Lil Sis.

We turned 2 1/2 bushels of apples into about 5 gallons of cider in under two hours, including set up time and prep time.

It really was so sweet and delicious. And so fun to share the experience with my kids and the grandparents too. Let's hope next year we get our own apples from our trees again and then our cider will be sweet and free.

Child Labor is Fantastic

Do you have kids in your house who are bored? Are they perhaps a little whiny? Here is the solution for you!

Take them to the garden to help you pull out the bean plants. Then have them pull the dried pods off each plant and put them in a collection pot. Next set them up in the kitchen to open each pod and capture all the delicious black beans.

Doesn't Big Bro look happy?

Now Lil Sis wants to help too? No problem! Move the bean collecting pot to the floor to ensure that no one will fall off their chair while reaching for new pods to open. Now everyone can be part of the fun!

In no time all your beans will be neatly sorted into containers. Twenty-five feet of bean plants turned into 8 cups of delicious black beans for soup and chili!

Disclaimer: the kids actually only helped for maybe five minutes. They were responsible for producing 1/8 cup of beans...maybe.

Weeds, beetles and homemade salsa

Yesterday was unseasonably cold. It got me thinking about harvest season and all the canning I will be doing in the not-too-distant future. This year the garden was all my doing. I started out strong, but I am not very good regarding maintenance and weeding. Before long our garden looked like this:

It has also become a haven for Japanese beetles, an invasive species. The kids and I enjoy collecting them in jars and feeding them to our chickens. The chickens gobble them up like they are candy!

Yes, despite the weeds the vegetables are still in there and still producing.  I planted lots of things, including Roma tomatoes. I picked Romas because they are good for making sauce. Now that the tomatoes are starting to ripen I decided to mulch around them with old newspaper. At least their little section of the garden is less weedy now.

We harvest our first seven or so tomatoes this past week. They had been sitting in my windowsill for a couple days and looked very ripe. It wasn't enough to make spaghetti sauce so I found a salsa recipe that used Roma tomatoes specifically.

Lil Sis was napping and Big Bro was eager to help me cut things up. Remembering that I made him pose with ingredients in the past, he saw me taking a photo of my salsa ingredients and offered to say cheese.

The salsa was amazing. Big Bro thought it smelled bad, but his father and I ate it up! The recipe is here if you want to make your own.

A new group of reddish tomatoes are already ripening on my windowsill for the next batch. I can't wait!

Gateway to Summer: Strawberry Season

Okay, okay, I know I said I was done with blogging for the summer, but we had such fun today I just felt like writing about it.

Mmm! Strawberries.

Yesterday was the last day of school. Today, Grandma asked if we wanted to go pick some strawberries. We decided it was a perfect day to do it, the weather was beyond perfect. We climbed into the van: Big Bro, Lil Sis, me, Grandma and Grandpa, and drove to Pomykala Farm. Grandpa reminisced how he used to go strawberry picking with his mother once school was out and she would make strawberry jam. Well, history tends to repeat itself, and in this case it's in a good way.

At Pomykala Farm we were warmly greeted by our friends, the owners of the farm. We also saw some friends from playgroup and got to ride in the golf cart out to the part of the field with the best picking. Lil Sis ended up loving the ride, though she was tentative at first. She's getting braver.

Big Bro "driving" the cart

We picked 10 pounds of strawberries to bring home. Big Bro picked his very own basket, Lil Sis picked her own basket. She probably picked two baskets worth but ate one of them on the job. 

Lil Sis working hard picking

Next came making homemade strawberry jam. A first for me!

Note: Big Bro is wearing a red shirt so that he won't get his Wild Kratts clothes stained with strawberry juice.

The kids went to play at Grandma's house so I hulled the strawberries, smashed them with a potato masher, then added lemon juice and brought them to a rolling boil.

Mashing berries

Next I poured in seven, yes count 'em, 7 cups of sugar! I'm just following the recipe. When that was once again at a rolling boil I added the pectin and was able to spoon it into nine jelly jars, and part of a tenth jar.

Look at all that sugar--2 bowls worth!

I think I will have to make another batch tomorrow. Maybe that will get us through a years worth of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. There's always other jellies to make with other seasonal fruits too. This is just the beginning of a beautiful season.

The partial jar of jam